Shockingly, Packers Really Do Miss Davante Adams

From 2019 through 2021, the Packers went 7-0 without Davante Adams and scored points in bunches. It’s been a lot more difficult without Adams in 2022.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 11, 2022 9:31 PM EDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Remember that time when the Green Bay Packers were 7-0 without Davante Adams? Remember that time when the offense potentially would be even better without Adams?

That seems like ancient history.

The Packers have struggled through the first five games of the season. They are 3-2, with losses at Minnesota in Week 1 and in London against the Giants in Week 5 sandwiching victories over the Bears, Buccaneers and Patriots. The three wins weren’t exactly awe-inspiring considering the ineptitude of the rebuilding Bears, the injuries on offense for the Buccaneers and the injuries on offense for the Patriots. The loss vs. the Giants was an embarrassment considering they had seven starters on their inactives list.

“Bottom line is we absolutely have to play better than that,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “When you’re up on a team 17-3 at one point in the game, and it goes for our offense, our defense and our special teams, you have to put a team like that away. And we didn’t. We let them hang around, and we all know how this momentum game works in our league.

“Once it starts flipping, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It’s real, it happens. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that. One side of the ball has to pick up the other side. So, if they’re getting long drives, if they cut it to 20-13 or if they tie the game up and it’s 20-20, then the offense has to go out there and generate some yards, some first downs, to give the defense a breather, and we didn’t do that, either.”

Obviously, it’s easier to put a team away or to make those critical first downs with a player like Adams. He’s one of the best in NFL history, which he showed during his final six seasons in Green Bay, when he ranked No. 1 among receivers with 581 receptions (31 more than DeAndre Hopkins), 7,192 receiving yards (63 more than Julio Jones) and 69 touchdowns (nine more than Mike Evans).

Nonetheless, the numbers supported the contention that the Packers might be just fine without the indomitable receiver. During the first three seasons of the LaFleur era, the Packers averaged 27.2 points per game. During the seven games without Adams, they averaged 31.6.

It hasn’t been nearly so simple. Defenses had all offseason to get ready. Even with an MVP quarterback directing a coach’s proven scheme, playmakers are needed. Through five games, Green Bay ranks 22nd with 19.4 points per game. The last time they scored so few points was 2006, when they averaged 18.8 during the first season under Mike McCarthy.

“I never just say to myself, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’d rather not have him here,” passing game coordinator and receivers coach Jason Vrable said during the offseason. “But it happened, and we won a lot of games. I remember one time Tae was joking with me, and this was probably last year, he goes, ‘You don’t even need me, anyway. What’s the big deal? We’re winning without me, right? And I was like, ‘Well, yeah, I guess.’ But it’s a little more gray hairs whenever he wasn’t out there and we had to prep a guy who’s never played before. But the system, I think the culture, has been set and it’s a new year. We’ve got to rebuild and get back to that.”

System and culture be damned. The rebuilding process has been excruciatingly slow. The receivers haven’t been bad. In his four games, Allen Lazard has either scored a touchdown (three games) or topped 100 yards (vs. New England). Randall Cobb caught seven passes for 99 yards against the Giants and has been an impact player on third down. Rookie Romeo Doubs caught eight passes for 73 yards and one touchdown against Tampa Bay.

The problem is the play-to-play consistency. Will the No. 1 read on any given play get open? As the No. 1 read most of the time, Adams usually got open. If nothing else, he drew enough eyeballs his way that someone else might get open. The Packers don’t have that guy. It’s all added up to Rodgers playing tentatively and the passing attack being dependent on short passes and yards after the catch.

“There’s a lot of football left,” Rodgers said after Sunday’s loss. He’s right. Teams inevitably evolve. The 2014 and 2016 teams that reached NFC Championship Games also started 3-2. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started 3-2 and won the Super Bowl in 2020. The Kansas City Chiefs lost four out of six at one point and won the Super Bowl in 2019.

Those teams had elite receivers. This one does not. Adams, as frustrated as he is to start his Las Vegas career, isn’t coming back through the door. It’s going to be up to everyone, from the head coach to the MVP quarterback to the last man on the roster, to pick up the slack better than they have to start the season.